A man who
refused to leave when Japan's Fukushima nuclear plants melted down is now
caring for hundreds of abandoned animals in a wasteland. As fears of radiation
grew following the meltdowns of March 2011, tens of thousands of people fled
their homes, and the area was put into lock-down. Even now, more than
two-and-a-half years after the disaster, those who enter must leave again
before nightfall. But one man never left.
Keigo
Sakamoto, 58, started an animal sanctuary over a decade ago in Naraha, fewer
than 12-and-a-half miles from the Fukushima plant. After the disaster, he was
ordered to evacuate, which would have meant abandoning some 500 animals
including chickens, dogs, rabbits, geese, goats and guinea pigs. Sakamoto
refused to leave. The government blocked access roads with concrete blocks and
he was trapped inside, cut off from supplies. For months he and his animals ate
anything they could find, explaining here that he feeds cat food to his dogs.
Twice a
week, on Mondays and Fridays, Sakamoto makes the one-and-a-half-hour supply run
to the nearby town of Iwaki. He receives some monetary support and bags of
animal feed from his supporters, who send it to a pet shop in town. A
supermarket provides him with discarded vegetables. Sakamoto says he is not
scared, because he is protecting hundreds of lives, and plans to continue doing
what he is doing. Report by Mark Morris.
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